Unless
you live a strictly cashless life, you've probably got a small jar or jug
(maybe even an actual actual piggy bank) where you chuck your pocket change at
the end of the day. If, like me, you rely on coin-operated laundry
machines, you probably have two: one for quarters, and one for the rest.
I, on the other hand, have three: for the past twenty-odd years I've kept an additional receptacle, dedicated entirely to money that I unexpectedly come across while stumbling my way through life, which I tabulate at the dawn of the new year and donate to charity.
Since
2011, I've been posting the results here, and encouraging friends and family to
make a matching donation to the Sean McGrath Fund at Princeton Area
Community Foundation, a memorial that I co-founded, and which has distributed
nearly $50,000 to a wide range of health and humanitarian nonprofits over the
past fifteen years.
This
year I'm making a found money donation of $69.31--and
hoping you will do the same (see donation details below)!
So
how did I come across almost seventy free bucks this year? Found money comes in
a several varieties, but let's start with the obvious; actual U.S. currency
that I plucked from sidewalks, subway platforms, and floors throughout the
year, 231 pieces in all:
10.00 x 1 = $10.00
1.00 x 2 = $2.00
.25 x 9 = $2.25
.10 x 29 = $2.90
.05 x 20 = $1.00
.01 x 170 - $1.70
There's
also foreign currency, which I used to find quite frequently
here in New York City, but which has been pretty rare the past few years. In
years past, I've come across moolah from over a dozen countries, but all I found
this year was a five Euro piece (worth $0.06).
However, that's an improvement over the previous year, when found bupkes (which, in case you're unfamiliar with
Yiddish, isn't a currency; it's an expression).
Another
common way to come across lost dollars and cents in NYC is by unlocking the
value of forfeited MetroCards. Whether lost or discarded for having less than a
ride's worth of value, I adopted eight cards totaling $11.46 this year (easily transferred to
my main pay-as-you-go transit card), as well as one unlimited ride card, which
I was able to use for six subway trips before it expired, equating to $16.50 in found value. Add to that two disused cards worth a combined $19.48 that
my friend Greg donated when I visited him in Philly, and this year's value of
found MetroCards comes to $47.44.
And a
new addition to this year's found money charity tally actually comes from
nonprofit organizations: for many years, some have sent direct mail
appeals which include a self-addressed stamped envelope, which renders the
stamp useless if I chose to make an online donation, or opted not to donate at
all. This year, perhaps for just that reason, I noticed a new trend, with some
groups paper clipping a stamp to the return envelope
instead of affixing it. Receiving four of those in over the course of the year
adds another $1.96 to the
kitty...
...which brings 2018's total to the aforementioned $69.31, the second-highest total since I've
been tracking detailed results, and nearly triple the size of last year's pool!
Over
the eight years listed above, this little annual hobby has resulted in over
$400 in pre-matched dollars; with matches from friends, that has been boosted
to well over $1000, which has supported charity initiatives across the country
and around the world.
I
hope you'll join me by pitching in some of your own virtual coin and
cash! All you have to do is click the fourth button
on the PACF site ("Support a specific fund") and make sure you specify "Sean
McGrath Fund" in your note.
Before
I wrap up, I'll leave you with a look at some of the more battle scarred coins,
weathered either by time, or--for those that spent winter beneath snow and
salts--literally by weather.
Whether
or not you contribute a few dollars to the Sean McGrath Fund, I hope you've
been inspired to track the spare change that you find throughout 2019, and to
donate the total to your favorite charity next year! You might be surprised at
what you'll find.
Thank
you for reading, for donating, and for all the little things you do to help
change the world!
